The River Running
"Immigrants: we get the job done" -- Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Maria Elisabetha and Philipp Weilbrenner: A Play in Four Acts
Act I: Freinsheim, 1797
Maria Elisabetha and Philipp Weilbrenner apparently married before 1797. Their daughter Anna Katharina was born 24 Feb 1797 and christened in Freinsheim 25 Feb 1797. If Philipp was born in the Pfalz, then he's almost certainly Johann Philipp, the son of Anna Maria Sorg and Johann Jacob Weilbrenner born 27 Aug 1768 and christened in Freinsheim 29 Aug 1768.
Act II: Freinsheim, 1817-1820
Another couple named Maria Elisabetha and Philipp Weilbrenner - maybe the same couple, maybe not - had two sons christened in Freinsheim after the records gap. Valentin was christened 07 Mar 1817 and Heinrich was christened 12 Jan 1820.
It would certainly be possible for Johann Philipp born 1768 to have been the father of these boys. He would have been 52 when the younger boy was born. However, if Valentin and Heinrich's father was not the same Philipp Weilbrenner as Anna Katharina's father, then he could have been any one of the following:
Act III: Mußbach, 1836-1853
On 19 Jan 1836, Anna Maria Lingenfelder and Philipp Weilbrenner married in Mußbach, 18 km SSW of Freinsheim. Anna Maria was the daughter of Eva Katharina Bauer and Georg Lingenfelder. Philipp was the son of Elisabetha Wanner and Philipp Weilbrenner. I couldn't find a birth record for either of them. However, the Lingenfelders had been established in Mußbach since 1725. There were no children christened in Mußbach under the name Weilbrenner until Anna Maria and Philipp's oldest child was christened there in 1836. Even after that, the only children christened in Mußbach as Weilbrenners were Philipp's children. Philipp has to have been born somewhere else.
Anna Maria and Philipp had four children christened in Mußbach:
Anna Maria and the three youngest children were apparently deceased by April 1844. The Königlich bayerisches Amts- und Intelligenzblatt für die Pfalz includes a notice published 09 Apr 1844 for the auction of 13 "Dezimalen" vineyard. (A Dezimal is a unit of land measurement, one hundredth of a Tagewerk, a "day's work," or 0.3407 ares.) The auction is being conducted at the behest of Philipp Weilbrenner, a Schlosser (locksmith, metal worker) resident in Mußbach, as guardian of his son by his late wife, Anna Maria Lingenfelder. The son, Georg, is a minor without a trade who lives with his father. Georg's co-guardian is Jacob Lingenfelder, a winemaker resident in Mußbach.
On 20 Apr 1847 Philipp remarried, again in Mußbach. Again, the marriage record gives his parents' names as Elisabetha Wanner and Philipp Weilbrenner. Philipp's second wife was Anna Maria Koehler, the daughter of Barbara Bauer and Christoph Koehler born in Mußbach 29 May 1816. They had three children:
Act IV: Freinsheim, 1849
On 27 Feb 1849, Catharina Weilbrenner and Georg Michael Schreiber married in Freinsheim. The marriage record gives Catharina's parents' names as Maria Elisabetha Wanner and Philipp Weilbrenner, Georg Michael's parents' names as Maria Barbara Winkler and Johann Christoph Schreiber.
Anna Katharina born in 1797 would have been 52 at the time, which usually would have been kind of old to be getting married. However, judging by his parents' names, the groom was also coming up on his 52th birthday. Georg Michael was born 16 May 1979 and christened 17 May 1797 in Rhodt, 32 km SSW of Freinsheim.
I can't find any records of children born to this couple, which is what I'd expect if the two parties were already in their fifties at the time they married.
Epilogue
It seems fairly likely that the Catharina Weilbrenner who married in Freinsheim in 1849 was the sister of Philipp in Mußbach and that both were born in Freinsheim. But were Valentin and Heinrich born in Freinsheim 1817 and 1820 their brothers? Was Anna Katharina born in 1797 the woman who married in 1849?
I have no way of knowing. If - and this is a very large if - all four of these people were full siblings, that suggests that Maria Elisabetha Wanner was born 1770-1780. She may have been the daughter of Catharina and Georg Wanner born 10 Feb 1778 and christened in Freinsheim 11 Feb 1778. But as I said, it's a very large if.